I went to see the Headteacher this morning. We usually have a weekly meeting, unless he’s too busy or not a lot is happening and that can be easily communicated by email. Last week’s was about a particular topic, so this was the first time we’d got together over school events. One little moment for rejoicing was the confirmation, with the publishing of school league tables this week, that our school is sixth in Suffolk, including private schools. We allowed ourselves a moment of satisfaction, before discussing how we could do better this year. I don’t have much to say for league tables, they reflect rather than guide what we do, and we don’t play to them, but we might as well be pleased when they show how well the pupils and teachers do.
Anyway, at one point we were talking about Krakow (relevant to school matters, but in a personal moment, because we’d both been there) and we agreed how much we’d loved it and want to go again. I mentioned the food – look, if you ever think of going to Poland, be hungry. Gosh, they can cook. He told me in detail about a soup/stew, served in a hollowed out loaf of bread, that he ate slower and slower because he didn’t want the meal to end. “We tried to cook it at home, but it wasn’t the same,” he said.
Anyway, it was just a two-minute digression and we got back to school matters, but it made me think, what wonderful meals I’ve had in other countries, particularly ones where short-cuts haven’t yet become the norm. So, all those fabulous soups started with home-made stock. The best chicken stew I’ve ever eaten was in Delhi. Not the meatiest, but absolutely the tastiest.
Which reminds me, the Sage is cooking dinner tonight. I arrived home at quarter past five (not from the school, I went from there to a meeting at Bury St Edmunds) and made a cup of tea for both of us. I also had a piece of toast and Marmite. I was really hungry. Since then, I’ve had an apple and a satsuma and I’m still hungry. I had a poached egg on toast for breakfast, with the result that I wasn’t hungry at noon, when I had to have a quick lunch before leaving for Bury. So, toast and Marmite (all those B vitamins are very good for you) and some plain yoghurt, but it wasn’t quite sustaining enough to last me all afternoon. Andy’s jelly babies are still in the car, and it took some willpower not to eat some of them on the way home. I did use the willpower however, because if I’d opened the box, I’d probably have eaten half a pound of them. Better not start.
Anyway, i made tea and, as we were drinking it, asked the Sage what he’d bought for dinner tonight – he had offered to do the shopping today as I was going out. “Lamb chops,” he said. “I’m cooking them.”
Readers, darling, I married him. And I *totally* would again.
I never particularly enjoyed lamb. Quite happy that it’s banned now. Pork doesn’t do anything, either.
In fact the only meat (as meat, rather than processed into sausages or pasties) I really enjoy is chicken (which I am allowed). And steak of course.
Enjoy your chops.
I lurve lamb chops.
I can *totally* see why you would. The Sage is just lovely.
Gosh. Very impressed. I wouldn’t know where to begin.
(But I can do toast and Marmite)
Never had marmite. My fast meal of choice is a peanut butter sandwich. Yep, the Sage is a keeper. I hope his bp monitoring went well.
He carefully cooks it just the way I like it, though it’s pinker than his choice. I shared my chocolate with him afterwards.
I like peanut butter, though not so much in a sandwich. Spooned straight out of the jar, yum. And getting the Marmite just right on the toast is a skilled job, Chris.
Oh it’s so nice to hear of a man who cooks well.
Bear rarely attempts anything culinary but I remember years ago when I was recovering from ‘flu and he proudly brought me a meal of burnt sausages and greasy egg. I had to persuade the cats to eat as much as they could. . . . .
Though I will politely eat both if served in someones home, no baby sheep (lamb) or baby beef (veal) for me. I don’t like the taste of the former and think the latter has no taste, so why not wait in both cases.
The Sage is confident with meat. That’s about it – but he does it well, and it remains juicy.
I know quite a few people who don’t like the taste of lamb. I think it’s got something to do with its fattiness, also – because lamb is normally reared naturally – that it has a stronger flavour than most meat bought in a supermarket, Naturally raised English veal does have flavour, though it is mild, but Continental veal is flabby, white and not nice, and not acceptable to anyone who cares about animal welfare. Don’t know what conditions are in America.